NEW ORLEANS – As homeowners across the region review their property tax bills, new data from the Bureau of Governmental Research’s (BGR) Property Tax Dashboards shows an updated picture of local property tax rates. The median property tax rate in St. Tammany Parish declined again in 2025, for a total decrease of 10% over the past two years. At 125.61 mills, the parish’s median rate now falls below those in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, both of which saw modest increases from the prior year.
First launched in 2024, the dashboards help residents, business owners, journalists, and policymakers understand how property tax rates are set, how much they pay, and where those dollars go. This update comes as Orleans Parish homeowners are now receiving tax bills for the 2026 tax year, while residents in St. Tammany and Jefferson parishes received bills for the 2025 tax year last fall.
“Property taxes are complicated, and even small changes can raise questions for homeowners,” said BGR President and CEO Rebecca Mowbray. “The BGR Property Tax Dashboards give the public a clear and accessible way to see what’s changed and what hasn’t in their own community.”
This was not a parishwide reassessment year for any of the three parishes. As a result, most taxing authorities maintained existing rates. Still, BGR’s update shows meaningful changes in some areas, often driven by tax renewals, expirations, and voter decisions.
St. Tammany Parish – Latest 2025 Tax Year Rates
In 2024, BGR found that most St. Tammany Parish taxing authorities lowered their rates following the parishwide property reassessment. The reassessment increased the total value of property in the parish by almost 22%. Taxing authorities rolled back their rates to make the increase revenue neutral. Most taxing authorities opted to levy the reduced rates instead of rolling their rates forward and realizing new revenue. As a result, the median total rate across St. Tammany’s tax districts fell from 139.72 mills to 130.8 mills, an 8.29-mill reduction from 2023.
In 2024, all of St. Tammany’s 34 tax districts saw a decrease in their total rate. Now, in 2025, property tax rates dropped again across all tax districts, even without another reassessment.
- The median total rate of 125.61 mills is down 5.19 mills (4%) from 130.80 mills in 2024.
- The two-year decline in the median rate is 14.11 mills, a 10% drop from 2023.
- Total rates in the parish’s tax districts now range from 93.20 mills to 144.64 mills.
Several St. Tammany taxing authorities levied lower rates in 2025 than in 2024. The combined rate of taxes levied parishwide (which are included in each district’s total rate) continued its downward trend, dropping 4.51 mills (5%) from 88.83 mills in 2024 to 84.32 mills in 2025.
More than half of the reduction came from the expiration of a 2.66-mill Coroner’s Office tax that voters declined to renew in 2023. Other notable drivers were rate decreases for the parish libraries (1 mill) and mosquito abatement (0.83 mills). The balance of the reduction in parishwide taxes, though tiny, is the net effect of rising rates for juvenile detention (0.41 mills) and parish government (0.07 mills) and declining rates for the assessor’s office (0.31 mills) and the public school system (0.19 mills).
Over the past decade, St. Tammany’s parishwide tax rate has fallen by 18% from 102.67 mills in 2016 to 84.32 mills in 2025. Most of this decline, approximately 13 mills, has occurred since 2023.
The taxing area for the City of Slidell experienced the largest single-year decrease — 9.84 mills (6%) — largely because voters approved replacing two property taxes supporting the Slidell Police Department with a 0.38% sales tax for the same purpose.
The recent decline in property tax rates in St. Tammany makes the parish more competitive with Jefferson and Orleans for residents and businesses, Mowbray said. In updating the dashboards, BGR does not fully analyze the fiscal impacts of tax rate changes. However, Mowbray noted that St. Tammany Parish still faces funding challenges in several areas of government. For example, BGR studied unmet costs of the parish’s justice system in these 2021 and 2022 reports for voters.
Orleans Parish – Latest 2026 Tax Year Rates
Most Orleans Parish taxing authorities held rates steady. The exception was the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East (SLFPA-East). The authority levies property taxes for the Orleans Levee District and the Lakefront Management Authority, which manages assets not directly related to flood protection.
- SLFPA-East increased its 2026 Orleans Parish rates by 1.49 mills, raising the total property tax rate by 1% for most East Bank residents from 131.99 mills last year to 133.48 mills this year.
- The total rate in Algiers remained unchanged at 132.01 mills.
Following the parishwide reassessment in 2024, SLFPA-East had rolled back its levee tax rates. In 2026, it opted to roll those rates forward to the voter-authorized maximums.
Jefferson Parish – Latest 2025 Tax Year Rates
Most taxing authorities in Jefferson Parish maintained their 2024 rates in 2025. Where increases occurred, they largely resulted from tax renewals taking effect, restoring rates to their voter-authorized maximums after having been rolled back during previous 10-year tax terms.
- The median total property tax rate across Jefferson’s 19 tax wards rose slightly to 131.27 mills, an increase of 0.38 mills from 2024.
- Total rates across wards now range from 100.64 mills to 150.54 mills.
- The combined rate of parishwide taxes, included in each ward’s total rate, declined by 0.40 mills, falling to 59.85 mills, largely because the Coroner’s Office reduced the rate for one of its two taxes by half.
The Town of Grand Isle was the only tax ward to experience a significant increase in its total rate — 10.33 mills higher than 2024. This resulted mostly from an ambulance district tax taking effect at a much higher maximum rate (20 mills in 2025 vs. 9.82 mills in 2024) after voters renewed it for 10 years.
A Tool for Understanding Local Taxes
The Property Tax Dashboards provide complete rate details for every taxing area within the three parishes and answer common questions such as:
- What is my total property tax rate?
- Where does that money go?
- How does a home’s value affect its tax bill?
- Who sets and levies each tax?
- How have rates changed over time?
BGR cautions against making direct comparisons between parishes. The dashboards show property taxes only, and local services are funded through different mixes of sales taxes, fees, state, and federal money.
For example, Jefferson Parish schools rely more heavily on sales taxes than New Orleans schools. And while New Orleans residents do not pay property taxes for water, sewer, or garbage collection like most Jefferson residents, they pay higher user fees for those services.
Explore the Dashboards
Residents can view the dashboards at www.bgr.org/property-tax-dashboards. Users select a parish and click on a taxing area to view a detailed, interactive breakdown. These are best viewed on a desktop screen. The site also includes a video tutorial and an introductory guide to property taxes.
The dashboards complement BGR’s independent research on local public finance and provide context for BGR’s analyses of local tax propositions.
